A 17-year-old girl was allegedly gangraped by three youths at Jainivas village under Indergarh police station in Bundi district, police said today.

The victim, belonging to Meena community, was allegedly gangraped by three youths on the intervening night of Thursday, they said.

The accused took her to a hillside area after clogging her mouth while she was sleeping in a field close to her house, SHO ArvindSharma said.

A case was registered yesterday against Jodhraj Rabari, resident of Jainagar and two other unidentified youths under IPCsections 363 (kidnapping), 376 (rape), relevant sections of POSCO Act and under section 3 of SC-ST Act following a complaint by the victim, he added.

No arrests have been made so far in connection to the case, police said adding that teams have been formed to investigate the matter under the supervision of Deputy Superintend of Police (DSP) Manvendra Singh.

Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front (TNUEF) has criticised the Rahstriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for trying to turn a section of Dalits against the reservation policy.

Talking to reporters after paying homage to Dalit leader Immanuel Sekaran on the occasion of his 58th death anniversary here on Friday, TNUF State general secretary K. Samuel Raj said that the recent conference addressed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah in Madurai was part of the RSS's ploy to make Dalits "prick their eyes with their own hands".

"The conference was part of a larger conspiracy launched by the RSS to do away with reservation," he alleged.

Enter Dalit Domain, Exit Brahmin-Bania Baggage

PATNA: The BJP, considered a Brahmin-Bania party and one dominated by upper caste leaders in Bihar, has now successfully entered the Dalit domain.

The NDA has worked out a major social engineering formula by bringing two Dalit leaders of Bihar—Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan and Hindustani Awam Morcha's Jitan Ram Manjhi. The SCs form about 16 per cent of the state population.

The NDA's experiment may appear similar to the Dalit-Brahmin alliance in Uttar Pradesh in 2007. But in that case the chief ministership was in the hand of BSP chief Mayawati. In Bihar, both the Dalit leaders are likely to play second fiddle. Also, the two Dalit leaders got refuge at the behest of BJP at a time their stocks were low. With a weak bargaining power, they have started showing signs of flexibility.

The saffron party leadership is not only facing the challenge of keeping their flock together, but also to manage the inner contradictions of alliance partners. The emergence of Manjhi as a new Dalit icon may create problem to an established leader like Paswan and their recent spat indicated a struggle for one-upmanship.

This election will prove how far Manjhi is useful to the BJP, as he would contest for the first time while leading a new party.

As one coming from the "Musahar" (rat-eater) community, considered most backward among Dalits, and having been a chief minister for nine months, he will campaign aggressively against Nitish who threw him out of power.

Manjhi has tried his best to consolidate Dalits votes, claiming that "with their 20-22 per cent votes they can make the government of their own choice if they get united". He feels the number of Dalits—Census figures peg it at 16 per cent of the state population—is inaccurate.

Paswan comes from the numerically and socially much stronger Dalit sub-caste, Dussadh, and his party has always ended up getting 6-7 per cent of the votes and often proven to be a game changer in Bihar, such as in 2005 when Lalu Prasad was ousted.

Even amid the hammering in the last parliamentary election, the JD(U) and RJD-Congress combine had managed to get 45 per cent votes. Now that they are fighting united, the percentage may go up as Nitish Kumar and Lalu still have a hold on the Dalit votebank. Nitish tried his own strategy to win Dalit voters over by bringing a large section of them under the umbrella of a new Mahadalit category and starting "Mahadalit Mission" for their development.

Lalu, too, has made big claims, saying; "I have given them voice (self-respect) and people say that my tenure as Jungle Raj."

The gradual loss of RJD was gain for BJP and JD(U) as BJP got 26 per cent and JD(U) could get 34 per cent the Dalit votes in 2014.

The Dalit electoral arithmetic would depend much on the Manjhi factor now. "With the disintegration of backward votes in the last elections, the electoral importance of unified Dalit votes have increased manifold," said Kishori Das, a Dalit activist

While the police claimed the event would lead to disrupting peace in the village, the organisers argued it was undemocratic to disallow an event aimed at promoting harmony between communities.

Earlier in the week, amid opposition from the 'upper' caste people, the Hassan district administration took two Dalit women inside the Basaveshwara temple at Sigaranahalli.

On Saturday, a clutch of organisations under the banner of Janapara Vedike organised 'saha pankti bhojana' event and Haralahalli Gram Panchayat had given them permission. It was to be held in a community hall into which Dalits are traditionally not allowed.

The police, however, denied permission hours before the programme and posted policemen on roads that lead to the village to stop organisers from entering the village.

Vehicles were stopped and passengers were interrogated. Even residents of the village were asked to show identity cards as proof to enter the village. This led to the villagers and organisers getting agitated.

Minutes before he was taken into custody here, G.V. Srirama Reddy, one of the organisers, told presspersons, "Dalits have no security in the State. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah claims his government is pro-Dalit, but it is actually not so. Otherwise, the police would have not denied permission to hold a programme in the village," he alleged. Even as the organisers were about to leave for Sigaranahalli in private vehicles, the police took them into custody.

Thayamma, a resident of Sigaranahalli who had earlier attracted wrath of 'upper' caste people for entering the temple, said that Scheduled Caste people in the village were under constant fear.

"Representatives of 'upper' caste people did call for a meeting on Friday near our colony and told us not to organise any event in the village involving outsiders. They also threatened of dire consequences if the programme is held," she said. Superintendent of Police Raman Gupta visited the village in the evening and held talks with representatives of both the communities.

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THE HIMALAYAN TALK: PALASH BISWAS CRITICAL OF BAMCEF LEADERSHIP

http://youtu.be/k4Bglx_39vY
[Palash Biswas, one of the BAMCEF leaders and editors for Indian Express spoke to us from Kolkata today and criticized BAMCEF leadership in New Delhi, which according to him, is messing up with Nepalese indigenous peoples also.
He also flayed MP Jay Narayan Prasad Nishad, who recently offered a Puja in his New Delhi home for Narendra Modi's victory in 2014.]